Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had on Sunday, during a Lok Sabha Elections 2019 rally, made the 'Modi surname' remark in Karnataka.

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi landed himself in a controversy with his ‘why all thieves share the Modi surname’ remark which he had made at a Lok Sabha Elections 2019 rally in Kolar district of Karnataka on April 13. As a result, a resident of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh has filed a defamation complaint against him in a court.

Citing Gandhi’s statement, Jagdeep Kumar Modi said the Congress chief’s comment during a rally had dealt a blow to his and his family’s reputation as many people made fun of him. (Full coverage on Lok Sabha Polls)

“Gandhi made the statement with an aim to defame those with the Modi surname despite knowing that it is untrue,” he said, claiming that it is a punishable offence, urging the court to take appropriate action against the Congress chief.

Attacking PM Narendra Modi, he had said, “You stole Rs 30,000 crore and gifted to your thief friend. You 100 per cent steal money. ‘Chowkidar’ is a thief. Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya, Anil Ambani and Narendra Modi – There is a group, a team of thieves.”

Reacting sharply to Congress president Rahul Gandhi “why are all Modis thieves” barb, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that it has become a fashion for the ‘naamdar’ to speak in derogatory terms. “These people are crossing limits daily, according to them anyone whose name is Modi is a thief, what kind of politics is this? They have labelled a whole community as thieves only to get some applause, just to insult your ‘chowkidar’,” PM said while addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh’s Korba.